


Little brother

by asamandra



Category: Marvel, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/M, M/M, clint and tony are brothers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-07
Updated: 2013-08-07
Packaged: 2017-12-22 17:42:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/916162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asamandra/pseuds/asamandra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony discovers that his father had an affair</p>
            </blockquote>





	Little brother

**Author's Note:**

> And now, if you don't want to read it, you can listen to it [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/927557)

Tony was frustrated. Half a week ago Pepper threw him out of his workshop. She said he worked too much and needed a few days off. Well, and the last panic attack he had wasn't helpful at all. And then he fell asleep during a mission debriefing. Fury was anything but exited and he and Pepper put him in his jet and flew him to his Malibu house to relax. Pepper instructed JARVIS to not let him into his workshop there, too, and she took his phone as well. The first three days were living hell, he was bored out of his mind, didn't know what to do with all the time he had. He read a few novels (Pepper and JARVIS also locked up his technical literature), watched some movies and played chess with JARVIS.

On day four of his exile he started to rummage through all the old stuff he found in the attic and there were his mothers diaries in a box. Curious he started to read them. It was more interesting than the novels he had read. He learned much about his mother, her feelings, her dreams, her fears. How she fell in love with his father. Then she got pregnant and how exited she was about that. The next few years she wrote a lot about him, her little boy and Tony had to smile a few times when she described his little pranks. But then shortly after his sixth birthday he read a few really disturbing passages. 

_1976/06/08  
Today a woman called. She demanded to speak to Howard. I asked her, what she wanted from my husband. She broke the call. She didn't say her name or anything. I told Howard about her, but he said he didn't know her._

_1976/06/14  
This evening I sat in the library and Howard was in his office. He didn't know that I was there, I guess, but I could hear him. He talked to someone named Edith on the phone and he was very furious. When we had dinner I asked him and he said she works for him. But why was he so furious?_

_1976/06/21  
These Edith-person called again. She still demands to speak to Howard. I told her to leave him alone._

_1976/07/04  
Today I asked Jarvis about Edith. He said, he didn't know her but he said he will try to find something about her._

_1976/07/21  
Howard cheated on me. I can't believe it. I wanted to visit him in his office and there was this woman, Edith, and she told him, that she's pregnant. He said, if she moves far away he will pay her. I saw her slapping his face. Then she left without a word and ran out of the office._

_1976/07/29  
Jarvis told me, that he found something about Edith. She moved to Waverly, Iowa with her husband, Harold, and her son, Charles. I hope we'll never hear anything about her._

And then, seven months later, one last passage about Edith.

_1977/02/26  
Today I found a letter in Howard's office. Only 5 words: Your son is born. Edith._

Tony put the diary aside, pinched the bridge of his nose then he walked over to the bar and poured himself a drink. He had a brother. Half brother he corrected himself. He swallowed the liquid in the tumbler in one single gulp and refilled the glass. 

“JARVIS,” he addressed the AI, “would you please call Pepper for me. I need her to research the register of birth of Waverly, Iowa from February 1977. The name of the woman is Edith. It's important.”

“Yes, sir,” the AI replied. 

He had a brother. 

***

 

Pepper called him the next day. 

“Tony, I... I don't know why I did this but I've searched the register of birth in Waverly, Iowa. In February 1977 is nothing to find about someone with the name Edith.”

“That's impossible.” He said and prepared himself a Martini.

“Tony, I've double checked it. Either there wasn't a Edith or she used a fake name or she went somewhere else.”

“What about...”

“Didn't we sent you to Malibu to relax?” She said and sighed. Sure, as if he could relax now with this knowledge. 

“Yeah, you're right, Pep.” He ended the call and deliberated his options. They had cut his internet access but he needed this informations. As soon as possible. 

He descended to his garage and picked one of his cars, the Shelby Cobra, and left the estate. Fortunately Pepper didn't tell JARVIS to lock him in completely. He drove to the next Internet cafe to do the research himself. He sat there a few hours and hacked each register he could find but there was nothing. Someone covered her tracks perfectly. That was frustrating. And the computers there were really crappy so he couldn't work well with them. He had to wait till Pepper called him back from this exile. 

***

One week later, Tony was finally back in New York and in his workshop. First of all, he let JARVIS run a research for Edith on his specifications. Then he let him search all known forensic databases for someone with a related DNA to his. And while he was at it, he checked everyone who lived in Waverly in the last forty years. 

Unfortunately neither the search for Edith nor the DNA databases yielded results. But then he discovered one familiar name between the residents of Waverly, Iowa. A certain Clinton Francis Barton lived there once. He and his brother Charles Bernard Barton got into foster care after their parents died in a car crash. In his mother's diary was written, that Edith had a son named Charles. He didn't believe in coincidences, he needed to know for sure. 

Tony got up to the kitchen, poured himself some coffee and sat down at the table. He held the cup with both hands, let the warmth seep through his hands. What if Clint was his brother? What will he say when he tells him? When he had finished his coffee, he went back to his workroom and hacked SHIELD's personnel files. It didn't matter to him whether or not they notice, he wanted to know if Clint was his brother. 

Three minutes later he found it. Clinton Francis Barton, mother Edith Barton, father Harold Barton, brother Charles Bernard Barton, husband Phil Coulson. Born 1977 in Waverly, Iowa. When Tony was six years old. 

“JARVIS, do we have a DNA-sample from Hawkeye in our database?” he asked the AI.

“No, sir. But his DNA-profile is in his SHIELD file.” 

“Compare his DNA with mine.”

“Certainly, sir.”

It took only a few seconds.

“Sir, the results say, that you and Mr. Barton are related.”

“Holy crap.”

“Indeed, sir,” the AI answered.

“JARVIS, where is Clint?” he asked finally.

“Sir, Mr. Barton is with Ms. Romanov and Mr. Coulson on a mission. They should be back by tomorrow.”

“Okay, tomorrow then.”

 

They came back in the evening. Coulson was calm as ever but Clint and Natasha both were bruised and looked tired. Tony didn't get a chance to talk to Clint, because the younger man went straight to his apartment and fell into his bed. That night, Tony couldn't sleep. So he went to his workshop and tried to upgrade the power efficiency of Stark Towers arc reactor. He wouldn't admit it but he was nervous. 

Next morning, Tony was already in the kitchen, drinking coffee, when Clint finally appeared. The archer, just in faded sweatpants, mumbled something like 'morning', poured himself a cup of coffee and took a seat across from Tony.

He grabbed the paper and started to read.

“You're from Waverly, Iowa.” Tony started abruptly. Clint, who just took a sip of his coffee, choked and started to cough. 

“What?” he asked then. 

“I said, you're from Waverly, Iowa.” 

“I heard it. But why do you ask?” He looked suspiciously at the older man over his paper.

“I didn't ask. I stated it.” 

“Okay.” Clint carefully watched Tony. He acted strange right now. 

“What do you know about your father?”

“Harold? Drunkard and thug. Why do you ask?” He demanded to know once more.

“Did you know, that he wasn't your genitor?”

“So, you found it out.” Clint sighed and licked his lips. 

“You... you knew that?” Tony yelled while his brows hit his hairline.

“My mom told me when I was five.” Clint shrugged. 

“And you never came up with the idea of telling me?” Tony plunked his cup on the table and some of the dark liquid spilled out.

“Calm down, Tony, I...” Clint started.

“You what? You knew that you're my half brother and you never get the idea I could want to know that?”

“I often heard, what you said about your father and I didn't want to add another cause for you to hate him.”

Tony was baffled.

“And by the way,” Clint continued, “what should I have said? Hey Tony, pleasure to meet you, I'm Clint and you're my brother, did you know that?”

He gulped his coffee down, threw the paper back onto the table and left the kitchen. 

Tony sat there and watched him leave, still baffled. 

 

This evening Clint came to Tony's penthouse. 

“Can we talk?” he asked.

“Sure. Come in.” Tony stepped aside and let him in. 

“Want a drink?” he asked, when they entered the living room.

Clint seemed nervous. “Yeah, that... yes, please.” He strolled to an armchair and sat down.

Tony gave him a tumbler with amber liquid in it and Clint took a sip. He nodded approvingly.

“How did you find out?” He asked after a few minutes of silence.

“In my house in Malibu I found some old stuff and there were my mothers diaries. Your mother called and was there a few times. I was curious.” Tony planted himself on his couch.

“Hmm, and I thought, SHIELD had wiped all the traces.” Clint's lip twitched and he took another sip of the Whiskey.

“They forgot one paper. There was a report about the accident and that you and your brother went into foster care.” 

Clint took another sip, then emptied the tumbler in one big swallow.

“When my brother and I ran away to the circus, I thought about to come to your father. I read everything I could find about Howard and Anthony Stark, all the time.”

“Clint...” Tony started, but the younger man interrupted him.

“But that was not an option. My mom told me that Howard offered her money so that she wouldn't ever come to him again. What do you think he would have done if I popped up at your house? Do you think, he would have taken me in with open arms? He sent you, his heir, away to boarding school. And I? I was just an accident, a street rat, a carnie. I doubt he would have admitted to know anything about my existence. And then, think about your mother. Do you really think she'd been overly excited about me? I've had just lost a crappy family, didn't wanted to get thrown into another.”

“Fair enough. But...” Tony tried once again.

“Oh, and by the way, we've met once before, do you know that?”

“What? When?” Tony asked.

“Your 15th birthday, when your father booked half of our circus to entertain your guests. Remember that little boy who shoveled tiger shit?” Clint grinned.

“Oh! Yes, I remember that day.”

“You asked me, if you could come with us. If there's a place at the circus for you. I recognized you and I knew about Howard being my father. Do you think, after you trying to get away from him I wanted to reveal myself to you? Your butler picked you up shortly after and you didn't seem too excited about going back.”

“I wasn't.”

“See?” 

“But what about now? You live in this tower for a few month now. You could have told me.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

“But?”

“But there was this Loki crap and I think I didn't want anyone to believe this team let me play along because I'm the little brother of the illustrious Iron man.” 

“Illustrious?” 

“Yeah, well...” he grinned again. “I've been one of your biggest fans since that press conference.”

“Really?” Tony was baffled.

“Really.” Clint shrugged and blushed slightly.

“Cool! But what about this now?”

“I'd prefer not to tell too much people. If you want to tell the team, I'm backing you all the way. Fury knows, Phil knows. But please, no one outside this team should know that.”

“Okay. If that is what you want.”

“It is.” 

“Oh, can I tell them?” Tony asked.

“Yeah, of course. Why do you ask?”

“I want to see Caps face when the penny drops.” 

Clint facepalmed.

 

Tony said, he had a plan. Clint wasn't sure if that was a good thing, but he would wait and see what happened. Phil was still asleep and so he tried to leave the bed without waking him, then he sneaked out and went for the kitchen. It was still dark outside but Clint needed his caffeine. And he found Tony there. “Do you ever sleep?” he asked him forthright. Tony turned, looked at his coffee maker, checked the coffee beans filling level. 

“Not in the near future,” he answered, grabbed a cup, poured some coffee and placed it in front of Clint. 

“Okay, little brother.” Clint winced inwardly. The beast was unleashed. “Let's feed them.”

“What?”

“You can cook. I've seen it. Let's make breakfast.”

“But...” he started.

“They'll smell it and they'll come.” Tony grinned.

“I don't know what you have in your mind but well, let's feed them,” he resigned. 

An hour later the breakfast was ready. Waffles, pancakes, French toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, freshly pressed orange juice, various fruits, coffee, tea and Tony ordered JARVIS to redirect the scent through the vents into the bedrooms. 

Two minutes later Thor strolled in, twelve minutes later they all were there. 

Clint took a seat between Phil and Tony and waited what his brother (he still had to get accustomed to it) would say. 

“Team, there's something I want to tell you,” he finally started. Clint focused on his orange and peeled it painstakingly. 

“During my banishment to Malibu I found some interesting details about my father. To use some of his words, apparently he had fondued with an other woman and forgot some bread in the cheese.”

“Too much details.” Natasha mumbled sleepily.

Phil nearly choked and started to cough and Thor slapped him on his back. Then he glared at Clint but the younger man just shrugged and shoved a slice of orange into his mouth. 

Bruce lifted one eyebrow but didn't say anything. And Tony watched Steve. 

Click, click, bing! There it was. Insinuations really weren't his cup of tea. 

“You want to tell us you have a sibling?” He asked and looked at Tony.

“Brother or sister?” Bruce finally asked. 

“Brother.” Tony replied. 

“You up to find him?” Steve wanted to know.

“Oh, I already have. It seems he's married to our dear handler.”

“But Phil is with... oh... OH!!” Cap looked at Clint now. “Oh shit!”

“Yes, Cap, another Stark as snarky and a pain in the ass as myself.” Tony added maliciously grinnig. 

“Hey!” Clint interjected.

“What? That's a compliment.”

“I'm not a Stark, I'm a Coulson now.” He mumbled quietly into his beard.

“Speaking of Coulson, dear brother-in-law.” Tony addressed Phil now.

“There are no more excuses to not come to my parties anymore. And that applies to you as well, little brother.” 

Clint finally cut Tony off. 

“I'd appreciate if that stays between us. No one needs to know, especially not the press. It makes my work with SHIELD easier.” 

Everyone agreed. Tony grinned inwardly. He always wanted a sibling and now he intended to enjoy this new situation. A fiancé, a brother, a brother-in-law, friends, in the last few months he got a whole new family. Life could have been worse. 

End

**Author's Note:**

> [asamandra on tumblr](http://asamandra.tumblr.com/)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Podfic Little Brother](https://archiveofourown.org/works/927557) by [griffing07](https://archiveofourown.org/users/griffing07/pseuds/griffing07)




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